Hezbollah prisoners freed in exchange for dead Israeli soldiers
Five Lebanese prisoners freed by the Israeli authorities arrived in Lebanon Wednesday, hours after Hezbollah handed over the bodies of two Israeli soldiers seized by its guerrillas two years ago.
Among those freed in a prisoner swap greeted with triumph in Lebanon but anguish in Israel was Samir Kantar , who was sentenced to five life terms for a 1979 triple murder, including of a child.
The prisoners were brought across the border in a convoy of four International Committee of the Red Cross vehicles and were greeted by Hezbollah”s chief prisoner swap negotiator, Wafiq Safa.
Kantar, the longest serving Arab prisoner in Israel, was wearing a grey sweatshirt and jeans as he descended a vehicle to embrace crowds of wellwishers.
His mother, Siham Kantar, 71, was shown on television embracing the freed man”s brother and crying tears of joy as she awaited him at Beirut airport where all five prisoners are expected to be flown later
"I never gave up hope for a day," she said, choking back tears.
"This moment makes up for 30 years of waiting. I want to hug and kiss him. My only wish is to see him."
The five were released in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, captured on July 12, 2006.
The fate of the two soldiers was not known until their bodies were returned to Israel Wednesday morning.
"Today we hand over Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev," Hezbollah”s Safa said at the Naqura border crossing between Lebanon and Israel as men placed two black coffins on the ground amid a crowd of onlookers.
The mood in Israel had been sombre as it waited to learn the fate of Goldwasser and Regev , whose capture in a deadly cross-border raid in July 2006 triggered a devastating 34-day war in Lebanon.
"Both soldiers have been identified," an army spokeswoman told AFP after forensic tests on the remains.
Goldwasser”s family broke down in cries of despair when they saw the footage of Hezbollah handing over the caskets, while neighbours gathered around the Regev home, lighting candles and quietly shedding tears.
"Eldad! Eldad! What have they done to you?" wailed Regev”s aunt Hana.
Senior Israeli army officers later visited the two families to formally notify them of the men”s deaths.
Many in Israel question whether the nation is paying too high a price for the return of the soldiers who are to be buried on Thursday, saying the swap risks bolstering its arch foes in the region.
But Lebanon had prepared a hero”s welcome , with a red carpet ceremony in Naqura, where patriotic songs and excerpts of speeches by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah bellowed from loudspeakers and roads were festooned with celebratory banners.
Aside from Kantar, who was sentenced to five life terms for the murders that shocked Israel to the core, four Hezbollah fighters captured in the July-August 2006 war which killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon and 160 in Israel were also freed.
The four, Khaled Zidan, Maher Kurani, Mohammed Sarur and Hussein Suleiman — along with Kantar — were the last remaining Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails.
Israel was also to transfer to Lebanon the remains of 199 Palestinian and Hezbollah fighters exhumed over the past week.
Among the first bodies handed over was Dalal al-Moghrabi , who led a bloody commando attack in 1978 that Israelis describe as the "Coastal Road Massacre."
She was killed in a battle with Israeli forces after her group blew up a bus they had hijacked on the road between Tel Aviv and Haifa, killing 36 people.
The UN-brokered swap, which was given final approval by the Israeli cabinet on Tuesday, is the eighth between Israel and Hezbollah since 1991.
"Today Lebanon witnesses an unprecedented victory over Israel," proclaimed Lebanon”s Ad-Diyar newspaper. "Today the Lebanese prisoners return to their country with their heads held high."
Israel”s Jerusalem Post newspaper has billed the festivities in Lebanon as "a celebration of evil."
The five freed prisoners were to be flown later to Beirut where they were to be welcomed by Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
Nasrallah, whose group is a powerful political and militia force in Lebanon, was to give a speech in Beirut”s southern suburbs to hail his success in emptying Israeli jails of Lebanese prisoners.
Israeli commentators warned the swap had given a propaganda victory to Hezbollah, setting a dangerous precedent for any future exchanges and possibly encouraging new attempts by militant groups to seize Israeli soldiers.
"The Hezbollah leader will entrench his image as the only Arab leader who fought against Israel and defeated it," lamented Israel”s Maariv newspaper.
Israel is still trying to recover Gilad Shalit, a soldier snatched in June 2006 by Gaza militants including the Islamist movement Hamas that rules the impoverished territory.